One short week left

Swallowing got to be enough of a problem that I started losing weight I didn’t want to lose, and had fallen below my start weight for chemotherapy. Had a visit with Dr. Davies, my chemotherapy doctor, and she gave me a prescription for “Dr Akabutu’s Mouthwash” = I saw the list of ingredients = the first on the list is 2% lidocaine. It has to be made up fresh by the pharmacist, and takes them about an hour to make it. It doesn’t completely dispel the pain if I swallow wrong, or too coarse a food, but it mutes it enough that I have regained 2 pounds in a day and a half. To me this is very important, because Dr Davies told me, if I lost more weight, they would have to hold my next chemo series back until I regained some = and that I do not want.

Next week I start my third of four chemo series. After that, the final series is scheduled for Oct 31, November 1, and 2. The end of next week also sees the end of my radiation = which is what is making my throat sore. Basically, the peripheral radiation from shooting the tumor is cooking the lower part of my larynx, and the upper swallowing muscles in my esophagus. About two weeks after I finish radiation therapy, I should start to notice a lessening in discomfort when I swallow = after that things get better in a hurry.

For those of you curious about the mouthwash, it was easy to find with Google =

The formula:

For a 240 ml Bottle

Glycerin

Cortef 10 mg (cortesone)

Ratio-Nystatin susp 100,00 U/ML (anti fungal)

PMS-Lidocaine viscous 2% 100ml

Lens Plus 360ml (saline solution) which contains salt 0.9%

It does not taste as bad as you might think, but it’s also not a flavor that I am likely to become enamoured of. The taste leaves your mouth fairly quickly, and it does make it possible to swallow somewhat easier, but care and temperature control must be exercised.

Energy levels are pretty low now too = I can still do what I used to, just not quite as fast, and it takes a little more for me to convince myself to get moving. The initial burst of 180 paces a minute when walking is a thing of the past, but the walk still goes at the usual 120 paces a minute.

We have had rain here the past three days, so walking gets a little more complex = have to watch for breaks in the rain, and hope they are long enough to let you stay dry. I have still managed a minimum of 5 kilometers a day (~3 miles), but getting started is sometimes problematic. Since getting the magical mouthwash, I have been taking in enough extra calories that I have a bit more energy.

I got very few photos of the garden this year, because garden photo season seemed to coincide with the start of my cancer treatments. Tomatoes didn’t started ripening until after that, so I have almost no photos of any tomatoes with color this year, which is a shame, because I have all of the Kozula collection in the garden, and most of them are uniquely and beautifully colored. Weather and time permitting, I will try and get some photos of the different varieties this weekend = they likely won’t get posted until I am back here next weekend, if I do take them, as I don’t like to waste good garden time on editing photos. I need some photo documentation of what was grown this year for myself as well, because I know I will not remember what color half of the varieties were without it.

The forecast for the next few days has lows of 3 C, which means the tomatoes may get hit with frost this weekend = we often get a touch of frost here, when the forecast is 3 or less. I hope it doesn’t happen, but if it does, the call goes out to come strip the plants, and I start ripping beans down and inspecting for frost damage before storing to dry. Melons and squash are close enough to the ground they may not be affected if there’s only a light touch, but a killing frost means I start processing and freezing squash immediately, and melons may or may not be usable right away. Seed harvest will get a big boot in the butt = do it or lose them. It looks like most of my walks while I am home this weekend, will be in the garden, for one reason or other.

Well, I’m back at Kelowna again. Got most of what had to be done, done = I think. Got to take the photos of the Kozula collection, but the plants and fruit are showing the effects of weather in most case. Considering that it’s already October 10, it’s hardly surprising. A real different year. I still have grasshoppers flitting around, if the day warms up enough for them to move, and there are still yellowjackets showing up in unusual places, hiding out to try and survive a little longer.

My Chires Baby corn has decided it will tassel and start ears now, thank you. Supposed to be 75-85 days = I planted it first week of June = 120 days, and still no cob formation.

This long row of squash foliage is one hill each of Musquee de Provence, and Muscade de Provence. I wanted to see if they were actually the same variety that had just been misnamed someplace along the road. It seems they are the same thing = I can see no difference in the fruit from the two hills. I duplicated the experiment in a different area of the garden, with the same result, but lower production.

This barrow load was hiding under the squash foliage in the above photo. 94 Kilograms, or 208 lbs.

The greenhouse has become bean drying central for the moment = also onion and what ever else makes it in here.

There are a couple of cucumbers and a few tomatoes waiting for me to get to seeding them, but they will hold until I get home at the end of the week.

The majority of the beans have been picked but not threshed. There are a few bush beans that need to be done,and a couple of lima beans that I am leaving up as long as I can, because they haven't started to get dry pods yet. Got very few chick peas, a much smaller crop of soy beans than I expected, and far more Ethiopian Lentils than I expected. Now I just have to find out if I like eating them = I hope so, as they are a very good source of protein and are high in calories as well = and they are dead easy to grow. I tried munching a couple while they were immature, and they are as sweet as peas, but somewhat different flavored.

I have this one week of treatments left = actually only four days = then I go home to stay, and get to wear myself out in the garden, instead of wearing out my shoes walking. I am hoping for at least a few days in the garden before frost hits hard, but likely won't get it. Fall rains started last week, and the forecast is for lowering night temperatures = down to 2C Saturday. Being home and able to work in the garden will definitely speed my recovery along = too many things to do to lay around, regardless of how little I feel like getting started. Keeping myself moving is the best way for me to rebuild, provided I stoke enough calories in = and Shaoling will see to that. I look forward to Friday, and going home. They didn't wear me down as much as I expected with the radiation or chemo, and I have been lucky enough to have missed most of the side effects of the chemo that were possible. I have lost about 70% of my hair, but not all = yet. I expected to be able to polish the dome before this = I still may, but it doesn't seem like the second round of chemo cost me any hair at all.

And the adventure continues.

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